"The Boy" Joe
BACKGROUND Joseph "The Boy" Fergus was the gunslinger of the Brennan's Raiders gang until their demise in 1913. While known for his feats at gun-slinging his trademark revolvers "Mustang" and "Sally", he was often seen as the youngest and most cheerful member of the group. 1876-1886 Joe was born to a small rancher family in Río Bravo, on the ranch, Joe was taught how to raise livestock and to defend the livestock from predators such as coyotes. During this time he was educated by his father in literature and ranching business; his father wished his son to continue the family business well into the 20th century. 1887-1893 At 11, Joe's father left to search for gold in the south, and soon after his mother fell ill. With the stress getting onto the ranch, Joe became the sole provider of the family, working from dawn until dusk, and anything he produced from the livestock ended up leaving the ranch at the end of the week to see rent and supplies. As he grew older, he needed to use stronger weapons to fight even more and newer predators; cattle rustlers. Joe first killed one of these outlaws at the age of 17, when he accidentally shot a rustler in the temple with a repeater, at first he felt immense guilt, even to the point to turn himself in, and he brought the body into Tumbleweed. However, instead of being arrested, Joe was awarded the bounty of the rustler, who turned out to be the leader. With the newly-found taste for justice, Joe became a bounty hunter in his spare time, often training on the ranch with bottles from his new hobby; drinking at the saloon. During this time, Joe bought and had two double-action revolvers customized in the local gun-store from his bounty money, with the customization complete he named both weapons "Mustang" and "Sally". 1894-1896 Joe followed a routine of ranching, bounty-hunting and caring for his mother during the day, and drinking the pain and tiredness away at night, he had little friends from his hunting of local outlaws making him a liable target to saloon patrons, and from how much of his time was taken up by caring for his work and family. During this time, Joe was given a decorative pendant from his mother, which was passed down through his family. She later passed away from her illness. Distraught, Joe returned to exclusively ranch and not receive attention from his bounty-hunting days. 1896 When Joe went to drink at the local saloon, he stumbled upon a native who was held up at gunpoint by two outlaws, without a moment to think, Joe fired at the two men with his revolvers, killing them instantly, the man identified himself as Wind Cries, and Joe persuasively recruited him into helping him on his ranch, Cries proved more than useful as he was skilled in crafting medicine from local crops, which the duo sold to doctors and the livestock was sold to general stores and butchers. There was comfortable funding in the ranch for the two. 1898 After one day in the Summer of 1898, Joe and Cries began to eat their meal but were quickly interrupted by brutes who barged into their home and fired at the duo, leading Cries and Joe to flee into the night as Joe realized he left the pendant back at the ranch, with grief overcoming the young man, he felt disheartened as he sat down, however, with a tap on his shoulder from the veteran native, he looked up and saw a group of men beating on two figures on the floor, springing to action, the duo quickly rushed to the aid of the men by firing their weapons into the attackers, killing them instantly. The two survivors thanked the duo and welcomed them into the gang, and introduced themselves as John "The Quickfire Kid" Woodlock and Ollie "The Butcher" Roberts. John stormed back to the ranch of his enemy with the group and they pushed the gang into death, however it was too late, as Joe saw his home burn down right in front of him, once more depressed, he sat down, only to be comforted by John, who brought Joe alongside him as they traveled to Saint Denis in the search for the culprit. In the streets, Joe witnessed brutality and murder, including one case where he watched a man have his throat slit by John after giving Klaus' location. Although initially disapproving of the murder, Joe saw the necessity in tying loose ends, and by New Years' Eve, the gang had stormed the house of Klaus, where they opened fire on the posse before they witnessed the outlaw flee to the escape boat, yet not fire until he started the engine, from there, John and Joe fired at the boat while Ollie and Cries threw dynamite to blow up the body, leaving the dark night erupting in flames as the group silently watched. 1899 After surviving an attack from hired guns, Joe tried to maintain a positive attitude as the group left to the wilderness in order to hunt Klaus down, during the journey Joe hunted and fished with Ollie and Wind, in which, he revealed his happiness towards friends and working for a better cause. By late June, the group arrived in Armadillo to eliminate Klaus, instead of attacking head-on, John tasked Joe with a task to remove the bullets from Klaus' weapons, although hesitant, he ultimately agreed. Before leaving, John hatched a plan with Joe to rebuild John's ranch to thank Joe, Ollie and Cries for their services, although surprised, Joe was grateful. The night before the plan was to begin, Joe followed the drunken Klaus who returned to his camp and watched him pass out beside the fire with guards patrolling, using the dark as cover, Joe sneaked up on guards, one-by-one and slit their throats to avoid detection, when all guards were dead, he brought their bodies to their beds and left them there as to make it look like they're sleeping, and he then walked towards Klaus, when he reached the man, he saw the beautifully-decorated Mauser pistol and shoddy revolver in the holsters, with precision, he pulled the weapons from their holster and unloaded both guns of their bullets, and as he returned the weapons to their holster, Klaus stirred when Joe was placing the Mauser back in, with nervousness, Joe failed to strap the Mauser back in securely. He fled into the night to meet John for the next phase of the plan. By dawn, Joe rested by the general store, with tired eyes, he witnessed Klaus stumble into the saloon, knowing what'll take place next, Joe entered the general store and looked around while waiting to hear John's gunshots, growing impatient after a few minutes, Joe looked out the window to see Klaus running towards the post office, determined to not let this man go, he ran from the store to witness his hulking friend carrying the body towards John. With a sigh of relief, Joe walked over to John to witness Klaus being drowned by the outlaw. After Cries, John and Ollie left, Joe saw the broken, encrusted Mauser outside of the post office, in a taste of revenge for the pendant he lost, Joe took the Mauser as a prize. Joe, John and Ollie spent days at their camp, celebrating their victory over the outlaw, and before leaving for good, John patted Joe on the back and pointed towards the other two members, in which Joe followed the leader to the duo and spoke about the plan; the two seemed surprised as Joe at first, yet ultimately joined in. HANGING DOG RANCH The journey to the ranch meant the Raiders could interact and see how their actions along the path had rippled in society, many people blessed them and cursed them, with the most extreme reactions resulted in people joining the posse or dying to the posse unnecessarily. The people Joe met left an impression as he tried to give them the best that a friend could give, and lessons in how to properly shoot. He was one of the men who helped John rebuild the ranch by 1900. 1903 - 1909 When Joe heard of the Raider group that was slaughtered by bounty hunters, he opted to follow Ollie and Cries in assisting in protecting the rest of the men with weaponry and construction, even robbing from the military with Ollie and fighting off several groups aligned with the military, and even fighting against an insurrection group and was the person to protect Cries after he was slashed across the chest, proving care for the weeks after the near-death experience. During the expansion and absorption of land by the Raiders, Joe allocated a plot of land to rebuild his Joe & Co. farming industry, creating sizable profits from his works. When John returned in 1909, an enthusiastic Joe began to celebrate with the group as he shared stories and learnt stories from John. MEXICO In February 1912, Joe was proposed by John for one more journey for some gold to clear every name on the ranch, Joe happily joined John and the posse with the addition of a new member, Corey "The Kid Clfc". Following the desert to the Mexican border, Corey explained to the men that the gold belonged to former pirates who had left the stock there before their ship was sunk, Joe was intrigued by both the story and Cries' reaction, as he never explicitly heard his friend mention being sorry for anyone before, however Joe placed his spin on the tale in order to cheer him up. When the gang reached the San Luis River, they followed the newly-built train tracks across into Mexico, avoiding local law enforcement as they followed the map along the coast for the next two months. APRIL By April, the gang had arrived at El Mejor Cambio, where Corey had fled from months prior. From there, the gang had to follow Corey’s instructions as John went on reconnaissance as the gang set up a camp by a nearby waterfall. During this time, Joe, Ollie, Cries and Clfc had constructed a fishing raft. After a few days of working on their rafts, John had returned, greatly excited. On explaining his amazing theory of cave beneath a large cliff-villa, Ollie followed John out with the raft in order to see if it is true. As they left, Cries was vocal on not attacking this villa head-on as they have the raw power in his opinion, Joe once more had to explain to his friend that even though that they're strong enough to take over the world, it would be silly to waste it on people who can't comprehend what they're doing, implying that attention would also be negative. Cries listened, although reluctantly, opting to vent by hunting. Joe kept guard until John and Ollie returned, excited with the story that the theory was true. John now had elaborated a plan with the gang too, this one would need another raft, and Joe began to work. MAY, 1912 Over the following month, the gang had created two large enough rafts from local resources to sail in and steal enough gold, and John’s plan came to fruition as the gang boarded the rafts towards the cave and broke inside, once in, John lit his lantern, examining the chamber they entered, the gang saw weaponry and explosives littering the chamber. Joe took his time, admiring the room and conversing with Corey, who seemed happy to be working alongside such a group of men. With a slight movement in his eyes, Joe turned to see Wind with his weapons drawn as he saw a light approaching them and John emerged, Wind holstered his guns and saw John had pointed upwards to the men, trying to hide his excitement, he quietly spoke of a plan which includes the dynamite. Joe seemed confused at first on the proposition, but he soon copped that above them slept the treasure. John told Joe and Wind to move the ammunition and machine guns onto one of the rafts in preparation for a fight while John and Ollie fastened dynamite to walls of the cave along a lengthy wire. Wind instructed Joe to move the ammunition onto the rafts as Wind had carried the Maxim guns onto the raft with ease. Joe lifted two boxes of ammo at a time, stressing from the sheer weight and capacity of the ammo as he loaded them onto the boat, astonished by his friend effortlessly carrying Maxim guns onto the raft with ease. When Joe loaded the final box onto the raft, he boarded it, awaiting the next movement. He didn't have to wait too long, as John came rushing down. As John gave the all clear to the gang, Wind jumped onto the armed raft as the rest of the gang reached the safest area of the cave; in direct view of Cries and Joe's guns. Joe fired into swarms of guards in the dark, screams of guards and gunfire was all he heard before the explosion obscured his entire vision, leading to him falling over onto the raft as his ears pulsated from the noise. Once he recovered, Joe realized Cries was nowhere to be seen, aside from the faint blood drops in the water, Joe panicked as he reached into to grab anything, and was overjoyed when he felt his native friend's arm grab back, and with all the power he could muster, pulled Cries onto the raft, only moving the raft once he heard John shout to them to load up the boats and to escape. While quickly loading the gold, Joe realized that Corey wasn't with them, saddened, he moved faster so he can search for him, however, noticing his last whereabouts are now behind a debris wall, Joe boarded onto the rafts and sailed off into the night with an injured Cries accompanying him. Throughout the next few weeks, Joe had to mend Cries' mental and physical wounds, as Cries believed he was the man who killed Corey, however, Joe knew Cries, Joe knew he protected his men until the very end, just like Wounded Knee, and he let Cries know that too. Cries felt a strong bond with his friend and the rest of the posse, as Joe, John and Ollie stayed beside him the entire time. Joe didn't even notice that they were in America from how much attention he dedicated to helping the gang. Joe and the gang returned to the ranch, while the rest of the gang were depressed, they all appreciated the pleasantness and the care given by Joe, and at the funeral for Corey's memory, Cries approached Joe with the lockbox of all Cries' written work, and the two buried them together in the empty grave. From then, the gang decided the last journey was to be the most eventful, and with the money and ammo, the Raiders have turned from a gang, to a community. By the gang's absorption into a local community made by the gang in 1913, Joe was elected as the first sheriff for his outstanding morality and compassion of the people. After serving his terms as the sheriff, Joe retired to the ranch where he spent his days hunting and farming with his closest friends. However, in 1917, the United States had entered a turbulent war in Europe, and to had left the ranch during this time to make his country proud. During this time, Joe entered the American Army at the age of 41, with his age, skills, and determination, Joe became a respected lieutenant among his peers, in which he fought particularity well in Cambrai, becoming known as the "Cowboy Soldier" for his use of his revolvers in the war and western tactics of bushwhacking, which he learnt from his time with John. His unit was also nicknamed "Fergus' Raiders" in a nod to his former outfit and how he trained his men. He also met a young woman from Cambrai named Matilda, in which he fell in love with. She accompanied him and even sewn both the nicknames given in the war onto his outfit as prestige. By the end of the war, Joe had became a war hero, receiving a Victory Medal and Medal of Honor for his bravery and services. Joe wished to return home, and with Matilda. He got his wish when he offered her the rebuilt pendant in replacement of a wedding ring, which she graciously accepted. Returning home in 1918, Joe was greeted by his old friends who showed pride for his bravery, as he and Ollie both now shared war stories while hunting and fishing. Later on the following year, Joe had a wedding ceremony in the ranch's chapel. A few weeks later, Matilda became pregnant with a child, and birthed him at the end of the year, Joe decided to name his child Colin, in respect for John's dream. Colin grew up with Fire Sun and Wolf Moon (Cries' children) and was mentored by Tony Roberts in various skills. The little gang of children echoed their fathers' motifs and roles of in the once-infamous gang. The following decades saw Joe become an aspiring father to Colin as his uncles included Cries, John and Ollie. Occasionally, aspiring gunslingers, historians and outlaws visited Joe from time-to-time, and each time they always learnt a new way to fire a revolver.